Hydraulic tie remover



' Patented Sept. 26, 1944 12,358,306V v HYDRAULIC T IE. REMovER Harry B.Hughes,lPortland, Oreg.,v` u

Application May 14, 1943, Serial No. 486,971

` Claims.

This invention relates to a hydraulic tie remov-4 ing machine of the class disclosed in my subsisting Patenty No. 2,283,929 and its principal object is to make more certain the operation of the hydraulic ram in removing ties from beneath a railway track, preparatory to replacement with new ties. Y

Another object of the invention is to provide a turret revoluble in a horizontal arc, with a hydraulic ram mounted on the turret by trunnions or the like, so that within limits the movement is universal, as is said of a universal joint, the utility of which will be hereinafter pointed out.

Since a machine of the character referred to must exert pressures often in excess of tentons,

ing an elevation view of the'hydraulic ram Athat develops. the thrust necessary to'push out a tie from beneath a pair of tracks of a railway;

Fig. Sis' a front elevation of 'the machine shown in plan in Fig. 1; and

Figs. 4, 5 and 6V are separated parts, shown isometric'ally; which, Whenassembled and bolted together, constitute the principal part of my invention for lrnaking'the tracks support the thrust load in prope'rproportion, without putting a wind Y in ,the frame upon which the turret, turret base itis an object to construct a machine wherein the reaction to such load is sustained by the turret and turret mounting and from them transferred to the two tracks without tendency to stress and twist the necessary framework required to support the pump, gasoline engine and other auxiliaries incident to a machine of such high load capacity, which will also perform the task of pushing outa tie in a reasonable time, fty per hour being considered good'.Y l

It is a further object to construct a hydraulic ram tie remover and provide it with an adequate tie engaging shoe capable of readily taking hold of a wood tie and sustaining the heavy pressure necessary to push the tie outvthrough the ballast and side earth without digging a trench for it.Y Since Vwork of the character indicated must be performed by power machinery, the machinery must have a frame capable of being sustained on a pair of railway tracks and movable thereon from tie to tie requiring replacement, it is at once seen that the frame cannot carry the working load. That is to say that a frame capable of carrying a machinery set-up and capable of Vexerting a force of well above ten tons, would be badly twisted whenever the work was being done, or otherwise too heavy and therefore expensive to use. It is an object therefore to make a machine wherein the stress reactions developed by pushing out a tie through well set ballast (where it has laid for enough years to require c Drawings on three sheets accompany and form i a part of this specification in which,

Fig. 1 is a plan view of a machine which satisffies all of the objects named;

Fig. 2 is asection taken on 2-2, Fig. 1, showand the operating Ymechanism are mounted.

In the drawings, letter 'R is a reversible hydraulicram. vInthis case it is ar cylinder containing" a "piston, not shown, which operates a heavy piston rod 2, to drive the tie shoe V3, the teeth 4 of which engage'with the tie T to push it out. ,y

yReplaceable tie engaging teeth 4 are so formed that their rpointsftend tov penetrate the tie T when forced to the right, considering that View of: thestructure shown in Fig. 2. The words hydraulic ram are Vintended'to include all types of instrumentalities commonly called by that name Vwhere the'yar'ev adapted to exert linearforce under influence of hydraulicpower; A' An important Vfeature of the tie shoe 3is the fact that that part'Y of vit'which serves to be made rigid with ther piston rod`2, is straight along `its underside while that portion'containing the teeth 4 is` arcuate in outline Aso that asthe shoe is ,forced further from its `initial point of engagevmerit with tie T and the tie with it, the rows of teeth lly successively engage itswood. 'I'he head v3ay serve'sftolpu'sh' the tie clear under the rail such as., gage'it. y l l The ramv R lis furnished with a saddle 5, the opposite sidesvoi' which are formed as trunnions 6, which are turnably mounted in bearings in the i6 aiterV 'the/teeth 4' will no longer 'enturret 8 are furnished with acircular pocket ofrectangularV section' 9, as shown in Fig. 5. These pockets itV turnably Vinto Contact with'the'buttonl I0 of theturret mounting l l, shown in Fig. 6.

Made integral with the turrentmounting' l I are a pair 'of spaced rail'hooks l2, so fashioned that when the base Il is'mounte'd on a partof the frame of the machine as awhole, here'shown as a"steel channel I3, and the machineV is let down on top of a rail such as I4, the ram being considered to be operating and having pushed the tie T a short distance towards removing it, the reaction generated by the power of the ram and transmitted to the turret and its mounting. in part, that part of the reaction stress is applied to the ball of the rail I4 by the hooks I2 with only part of one of the anges of the channel I3 sustaining any load, and that load in compression.

When a tie is pushed out from under a pair of rails, through the ballast, it tries to climb to the surface with great force, thus putting an outward strain on the other rail of the pair indicated in Fig. 2 by the numeral I6, and unless counterforce is applied will quite often distort the trackage by disturbing the gage. This is overcome byY placing a pair of hooks I1 (also shown in Fig. 1) v under the rail to engage the lower flange thereof, attaching a bridle chain I8 to the hooks II and attaching the bight of the bridle chain to the insulated coupling. I9.

From the insulated coupling I9, a single chain 20, also secured firmly to the insulated coupling I9 is held at selective length by the chain grab 2 I, which is coupled to the top of the turret 8 by the links 22, these instrumentalities being shown in Figs. l and 2.

It is to be particularly noted that when so coupled up to the chain and hooks, the turret 8 acts as a lever and the fulcrum is the trunnions 6. The long end of the lever bears against the rail I4, and the short end of the lever, by Vvirtue of the pivot connection V23 for the links 22, transmits mor'e than half of the reaction load of the ram R to the rai1 I6, thus counteracting the greater thrust load placed on it and serving to equalize the load on lboth rails.

The ram R, by its piston rod 2, is insulated electrically from the tie shoe 3 by fiber bushings, as shown at 24. This is for the purpose of making the machine available for work on tracks equipped with block signal devices, which the in-l conventional except the hydraulic lift for the machine, when it is to be moved along the trackV from tie vto tie to 'be removed. The hydraulic lift will be given a general description and its details are not shown completely since it serves as the basis 'for another application,

The channelv I3 (Fig. 2) serves as the main frame member for the machine. To it are attached a hydraulic pump 30 driven by the high speed gasoline'motor3l by means of the shaft 32, the exible coupling 33, the sprocket 34, silent chain 35 which takes power from the motor at 36. The pump takes fluid from the tank 40 through the tube 4I and delivers it to the control throttle 42 from whence, by manipulating vthe manual throttle lever 43, fluid under pressure can be directed to either end of the cylinder I through `hydraulic hoses. While one end of the cylinder is taking fluid from the throttle 42, fluid previously placed in the opposite end of the cylinder I reverses its flow through the hose attached to that end and returns to the tank 40 through the tube connection 45. The throttle 42 receivesv high `pressure hydraulic fluid -through tubular connection 46 which is connected to the high pressure side of the pump, opposite the inlet 4I, as is always the case with pumps of the gear pump variety as shown. Also connected to connection 46 is the tube 48, independently controlled by the valve 49 which serves to furnish power to the hydraulic lift 5U.

The machine, as stated, rests on a railway track, directly, while engaged in pushing out a tie. To move to the next position, the wheels 60 and 6I are forced down, raising the machine from the track with respect to its main bulk. A wheel 62 remains in contact with the opposite rai1 while the machine is working, being supported on a long tubular axle 63. The machine thus runs on three wheels, being slightly overbalanced towards wheel 62 by weight distribution. The axle 63 is insulated by a 'ber bushing 64 in the clamp 65.

Wheels 6U and 6I may be raised manually by inserting a crowbar or like instrument in hole 10, thus swinging the bell crank 1I and afterwards raising the other end in the same manner. Preferably, however, the hydraulic lift is used, of which is a double end operating hydraulic cylinder containing opposed pistons, not shown, in abutting connection with piston rods 9I and 92, which operate'connecting rods 93 and v94, to operate the bell-cranks 'H and 'I2 at opposite ends of the machine. An automatically engageable, manually disengageable latch is present but not shown as it would hide more important parts and the hydraulic lift is not herein claimed as inventive.

Having fully described my machine, explained the principle thereof and pointed out the advantages of the parts made subject matter of the claims, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

l. A power operated hydraulic tie remover comprising a hydraulic ram, a toothed tie shoe made rigid with Vthe operating end of said ram, a universal turret in which said ram is mounted, aturret mounting for the turret, a pair of spaced track hooks made integral with said mounting to engage with one of a pair of tracks in such manner that it engages directly with the track, and aframe member for the machine attached to the mounting'so that reactiony from operating the ram is absorbed directly bythe track hooks and not transmitted to the frame.

2,. In a hydraulic tie remover, a hydraulic ram, a toothed tie shoe made rigid with the operating end of the ram, a r universal turret mounting for the ram including trunnion mountings for the ram'in the turret, a chain grab swivelly mounted above the ram on the turret, a bridle chain engageable with the chain grab, track hooks connected to the bridle chain to engage one rai1 of a railway track, other track hooks beneath the turret mounting positioned to lengage the other rail and wherein the reaction force of the ram acting Yagainst the trunnions as a fulcrum is unequally applied tol the chain bridle with its hooks and the hooks beneath the turret lmounting, being greatest against the chain.

3. In a hydraulic tie removing machine, a hydraulic ram, a tie engaging shoe rigidly attached to the operating end of said ram, said shoe being substantially rectangular in plan, that part of its under surface which is nearest to the operating end of the ram being straight, the other part being convexly curved and containing a plurality of spaced, pointed tie engaging teeth that project outwardly and downwardly from said convex surface.

4. A hydraulic tie removing machine comprising a frame, members attached thereto adapting the frame to reistV on both rails of a railway track, a motor mounted on Vthe-frame, a pump driven by the motor mounted on the frame, conltrol means for the pump delivery, a hydraulic ram operable by the pump through said control means, a tie removing shoe operable by the ram against ties by engaging them between the rails of the track to push them in one direction outwardly from beneath the rails, a universal turret mounting upon which said ram is mounted, a mounting therefor that includes a pair of spaced track hooks engageable with the inside of one rail, a plurality of track hooks engageable with the outside of the other rail of the track and a' tension chain bridle, one end of which is attached to the upper part of the turret at a point closer Yto the center of the ram than is the first named pair of track hooks included With the ram mounting, the other end attached to the last named track hooks.

5. A hydraulic tie removing machine having in combination therewith a hydraulic ram, tieengaging means made rigid with the ram and eiective upon operation thereof to move a tie with which itis engaged, a universal turret within which said ram is mounted, a turret mounting,

vspaced track engaging hooks made rigid with said mounting effective to transmit reaction from the ram to the inside of one rail of a pair of railway tracks, spaced hooks engageable with the 

